urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavorssomewhere i have never travelledgladly beyond any experienceKali2015-05-13T01:11:27Zurn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:285441the season finale many years in the making2015-05-13T01:11:27Z2015-05-13T01:11:27ZI don't post much on LJ anymore but some moments feel like they ought to be memorialized here, since they sort of started~ here. Like this one:<br /><br /><center><img src="https://40.media.tumblr.com/08583cf0123b9f803d64e2ddcbff357e/tumblr_no9jn5VVLH1qin178o1_1280.jpg"></center><br /><br /><span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> and I went to the Wizard World Philadelphia con to see David Tennant and Billie Piper, which was completely surreal. That part is all a bit of a blur tbh -- for one brief moment in time David Tennant and I were touching each other which is truly the important thing lmao.<br /><br />Adding to the surreality was that joining us to the con was <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type- " lj:user="bazat89" ><a href="#" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo-disabled.gif?v=25801?v=129.2" /></a><a href="#" class="i-ljuser-username" style="color:#FF0000;" target="_self" ><b>bazat89</b></a></span> -- FINALLY after all this time I have seen Liz in the flesh! It was awesome and generally too brief. <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="bluetooth16" ><a href="http://bluetooth16.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/user_ontd.gif?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://bluetooth16.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>bluetooth16</b></a></span> was there too! I've met a lot of internet friends over the years but the combo of Liz + Amanda + David + Billie was something else.<br /><br />I ALSO got stopped by someone named Claire who said she had read my LJ and my fic, which was awesome -- hi Claire!!!urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:2849402014 end-of-year meme2014-12-31T03:36:23Z2014-12-31T03:44:51ZI&#39;ve done the same end of year meme every year since like 2010 or so, and yet when I went to find it I had to go back to 2011 because I guess I did it on Tumblr in recent years and Tumblr makes it impossible to find anything ever. So for posterity, here&#39;s my 2014 meme.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>1. What did you do in 2014 that you&rsquo;d never done before?</b><br />Ummm. Got my full license? Swam in the Mediterranean? OH! Ran 6k :)<br /><br /><b>2. Did you keep your New Year&rsquo;s resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?</b><br />I don&rsquo;t do resolutions, that way leads disappointment.<br /><br /><b>3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</b><br />Nope. I don&rsquo;t know anyone even in the vicinity of being pregnant, actually.<br /><br /><b>4. Did anyone close to you die?</b><br />No, thankfully.<br /><br /><b>5. What countries did you visit?</b><br />England and France were the big&rsquo;uns although I was also in the US briefly a couple times.<br /><br /><b>6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?</b><br />Don&rsquo;t even get me started, meme. A real job. Direction. Certainty. Confidence.<br /><br /><br /><b>7. What dates from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?</b><br />I don&rsquo;t ever remember specific dates so&hellip; lol not really any, probably.<br /><br /><b>8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</b><br />Probably that I went from someone who could not run for 30 seconds to someone who can run 4k easily, and 5-6k on a good day. I&rsquo;ve never been an athletic person so the fact that I was able to commit to this and stick with it and get to a place where I run about 4k five times a week is the one thing I&rsquo;m proud of this year.<br /><br /><b>9. What was your biggest failure?</b><br />Like every other fucking thing.<br /><br /><b>10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</b><br />No, thankfully. Uh, I may have had Whooping Cough in the fall lmao but IDK.<br /><br /><b>11. What was the best thing you bought?</b><br />Plane tickets.<br /><br /><b>12. Whose behavior merited celebration?</b><br />I&rsquo;ve always found this a weird question! I don&rsquo;t know. Does this mean on like an international scale..? Or within my personal life?<br /><br /><b>13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?</b><br />lol again, like&hellip; I don&rsquo;t know, Stephen Harper? Less seriously: Steven Moffat, Bryke and Bays/Thomas.<br /><br /><b>14. Where did most of your money go?</b><br />Planet tickets, fucking international flights. I regret nothing, but yeesh.<br /><br /><b>15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</b><br />The Olympics! My trip! Billie Piper! Thanksgiving tbh because all my friends were in town.<br /><br /><b>16. What song will always remind you of 2014?</b><br />lol probably the Tswift anthems &ldquo;Shake It Off&rdquo; or &ldquo;Blank Space&rdquo;.<br /><br /><b>17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer?</b><br />a) Sadder. 2013 sucked for me&hellip; until the last few months, so by December I was in a good place. This December, not so much.<br />b) The same I think but I&rsquo;m definitely in better shape.<br />c) Poorer, see question #11<br /><br /><b>18. What do you wish you&rsquo;d done more of?</b><br />This is going to sound stupid but working? More hours plz and more sense of accomplishment and productivity.<br /><br /><b>19. What do you wish you&rsquo;d done less of?</b><br />Uh. Being depressed.<br /><br /><b>20. How did you spend Christmas?</b><br />At my grandma&rsquo;s apartment, with my parents, my aunt and my cousin. It was pretty nice although staying in my grandma&rsquo;s apartment for 5 days is toooooo much.<br /><br /><b>21. Did you fall in love in 2014?</b><br />No.<br /><br /><b>22. What was your favorite TV program?</b><br />Orphan Black<br /><br /><b>23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn&rsquo;t hate this time last year?</b><br />Uh&hellip; Bill Cosby?<br /><br /><b>24. What was the best book you read?</b><br />lmao did I read books in 2014? What the hell did I read? I remember reading &ldquo;The Rosie Project&rdquo; but I&rsquo;m definitely not listing that Big Bang Theory AU as the &ldquo;best book&rdquo; of 2014.<br /><br /><b>25. What was your greatest musical discovery?</b><br />Voice of a Generation Taylor Swift<br /><br /><b>26. What did you want and get?</b><br />Canadian double golds in hockey. A new computer! I wasn&rsquo;t expecting to get that until a year from now so I&rsquo;m pumped. Also: a selfie with Billie Piper and her autograph :)<br /><br /><b>27. What did you want and not get?</b><br />A new phone. A better job. Meaning and purpose in life. A billion dollars.<br /><br /><b>28. What was your favorite film of this year?</b><br />These questions are hard because I end up only able to remember what I saw in the last two months. Which was Mockingjay, Big Hero 6 and Gone Girl. I guess Big Hero 6?<br /><br /><b>29.What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</b><br />2-fucking-5 which is terrible don&rsquo;t talk to me. I had dinner with my parents and then had a drink with a friend. And felt sorry for myself, largely. lmao.<br /><br /><b>30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</b><br />If somehow magically I got a great career-type job that gave me money and fulfillment and some idea of where I might be in 2 years.<br /><br /><b>31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?</b><br />&quot;Does this fit&quot;<br /><br /><b>32. What kept you sane?</b><br />Internet escapism. I wish I was kidding.<br /><br /><b>33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</b><br />I&rsquo;ve had the same answer to this question since at least 2011.<br /><br /><b>34. What political issue stirred you the most?</b><br />I remember having loud yelly discussions about anti-vaxxers for some reason.<br /><br /><b>35. Who did you miss?</b><br />All my friends. Everyone left town. :(<br /><br /><b>36. Who was the best new person you met?</b><br />lmfao I literally like&hellip; don&rsquo;t know if I met any new people in 2014. Everyone moved and I became a hermit.<br /><br /><b>37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014.</b><br />Ummm. Always turn the lights off when you pull over to make a call even if you think &ldquo;oh I won&rsquo;t talk long&rdquo;.<a name='cutid1-end'></a><br /><br />Otherwise not much is new with me. I don&#39;t post here because it&#39;s a ghost town and also because if I did it would be the same fucking post I&#39;ve been making for three fucking years about how I have no purpose in life and blah blah blah quarterlife depression. At least on Tumblr I can break that up with a lot of pictures of David Tennant.urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:284795collab fic: Out of the Howling, parts 11 and 122014-12-18T03:41:09Z2014-12-18T03:41:09ZSo, uh, this has been done for ages, but I may have forgotten to post the link here. (Tbf, it was mainly that I doubted anyone was reading this exclusively through me on LJ without also following <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span>, or reading on Teaspoon/Tumblr/Ao3... but anyway.)<br /><br /><b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44973.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 11/12)</a><br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>“No. We are not using this — this self-sacrifice reunion afterglow to sweep this under the rug, we are not. It’s not fair.”</i><br /><br />Previous parts: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>; <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow"> Part 3</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Part 4</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43483.html" rel="nofollow">Part 5</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43714.html" rel="nofollow">Part 6 </a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43895.html" rel="nofollow">Part 7</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44102.html" rel="nofollow">Part 8</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44535.html" rel="nofollow">Part 9</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44636.html" rel="nofollow">Part 10</a>, <br /><br /><b><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44973.html" rel="nofollow">Hyde Park buzzed with Torchwood personnel when they arrived. </a></b><br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/45176.html" rel="nofollow"><br />Sunlight streamed into the kitchen and Rose winced, a headache building behind her eyes.</b></a>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:284536Out of the Howling, part 10 of 122014-10-11T00:50:13Z2014-10-11T00:50:13Z<b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44636.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 10/12)</a><br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>“Oh, don’t flatter yourself. I don’t want this. I don’t want you.” Everything was stirred up now — his anger with the Master, with himself, his grief at having Rose ripped away from him — and it shook in his voice, low and angry. “You know, I was actually happy? Really, properly happy. For once. And you took that away.”</i><br /><br />Previous parts: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>; <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow"> Part 3</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Part 4</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43483.html" rel="nofollow">Part 5</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43714.html" rel="nofollow">Part 6 </a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43895.html" rel="nofollow">Part 7</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44102.html" rel="nofollow">Part 8</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44535.html" rel="nofollow">Part 9</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44636.html" rel="nofollow"><br />At first, Rose didn’t move. </a></b>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:284359fic: Out of the Howling, part 92014-10-04T02:49:14Z2014-10-04T02:49:14Z<b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44535.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 9/12ish?)</a><br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>There was no mistaking the naked concern on his face, but she remembered what he had said back in the laboratory. I care about all my companions. For all the years that had passed, after everything they’d shared, in the end she was just the latest in a long line.</i><br /><br />Previous parts: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>; <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow"> Part 3</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Part 4</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43483.html" rel="nofollow">Part 5</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43714.html" rel="nofollow">Part 6 </a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43895.html" rel="nofollow">Part 7</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44102.html" rel="nofollow">Part 8</a><br /><br /><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44535.html" rel="nofollow"><b>The Doctor felt like he was teetering close to a precarious edge.</a></b>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:284138Out of the Howling, part 8 of 12ish2014-09-26T03:49:01Z2014-09-26T03:49:01Z<b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44102.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 8/12ish?)</a><br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>The Doctor’s mouth twitched, and for a split second Rose thought he looked hurt. There was a shameful triumph in knowing she could still hurt him; a petty part of her wanted to lash out, to break his heart as effectively as he’d broken hers.</i><br /><br />Previous parts: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>; <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow"> Part 3</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Part 4</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43483.html" rel="nofollow">Part 5</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43714.html" rel="nofollow">Part 6 </a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43895.html" rel="nofollow">Part 7</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/44102.html" rel="nofollow">The Doctor sagged against the door after he shut it, head bowed and heart hammering. </b></a>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:283757fic: Out of the Howling (part 7/12ish)2014-09-22T23:52:39Z2014-09-22T23:52:39Z<b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43895.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 7/12ish?)</a><br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>Rose said, “Hang on, you want us to come with you? To the other world?”<br /><br />The Master rolled his eyes with more gusto than anyone she’d ever seen, including her ten-year-old brother. “Not you,” he said disdainfully. “Him.” </i><br /><br />Previous parts: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>; <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow"> Part 3</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Part 4</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43483.html" rel="nofollow">Part 5</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43714.html" rel="nofollow">Part 6 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43895.html" rel="nofollow"><b><br />When the steel doors rolled open again, the Master was lounging on the bed, his arms folded behind his head</b></a>.urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:283463Out of the Howling, part 62014-09-14T20:50:33Z2014-09-14T20:50:33Z<b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43714.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 6/12ish?)</a><br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>Rose kept her shoulders squared, her chin high, and her face cold. “You don’t know anything about me.”<br /><br />“Don’t I?” His eyes narrowed in scrutiny as he turned his attention to Rose. “I’ve met so many like you. Sad little humans with small little lives, trailing around after him, feeling oh-so-special because he chose you.” </i><br /><br />Previous parts: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>; <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow"> Part 3</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Part 4</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43483.html" rel="nofollow">Part 5</a><br /><br /><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43714.html" rel="nofollow"><b>The Doctor clung tightly to Rose's hand as they weaved their way through Torchwood, making their way down to the basement level. </a></b>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:283287Out of the Howling, part 52014-09-06T14:13:09Z2014-09-06T14:13:22Z<b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43483.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 4/?)</a><br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i> “It’s my life.” Her voice was soft but uncompromising. “If I’m gonna be a bargaining chip, I’ve gotta have a say. I don’t like it, we don’t do it. Yeah?” </i><br /><br />Previous parts: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>; <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow"> Part 3</a>, <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Part 4</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43483.html" rel="nofollow">Rose stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.</b></a>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:283111Out of the Howling, parts 3 & 42014-09-03T00:28:53Z2014-09-03T00:28:53ZOop I fell behind posting these to LJ. Is anyone still on LJ anymore anyway.<br /><br /><b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 3/?)</a><br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>In his long life, Rose knew, the Doctor had made plenty of enemies. But this felt different. She could see the tightly-wound anxiety buzzing beneath the Doctor’s skin. “Who is he?”</i><br /><br />Previous parts: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a>; <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42951.html" rel="nofollow">"You're not the Doctor."</b></a><br /><br />--<br /><br /><br /><b>Title</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Out of the Howling (part 4/?)</a><br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>She had seen the Doctor angry before, and sad, and near hopelessness, but she had never seen him like this. Truthfully, it was scaring her half to death.</i><br /><br /><b><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/43008.html" rel="nofollow">Overtop of Torchwood’s protests, the Doctor climbed into the back of the van with the Master.</b></a>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:282682fic: out of the howling (part 2)2014-08-17T16:12:50Z2014-08-17T16:13:55Z<b>Title:</b> Out of the Howling (part 2/?)<br /><b>Authors:</b> <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating:</b> PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings:</b> Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre:</b> Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary:</b> Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt:</b> <i>In only a week, Rose had become consumed by the mere ghost of the other Doctor. What might happen if the real thing showed up?</i><br /><br /><b>Previous parts</b>: <a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">Part One</a><br /><br /><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42503.html" rel="nofollow"><b>A week had passed since the Doctor had made contact with her, and Rose still did not know why or what he expected her to do.</b></a>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:282596out of the howling, part one2014-08-13T01:27:54Z2014-08-13T01:27:54Z<b>Title</b>: Out of the Howling (part 1/?)<br /><b>Authors</b>: <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="_thirty2flavors" ><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>_thirty2flavors</b></a></span><br /><b>Rating</b>: PG-13<br /><b>Characters/Pairings</b>: Ten II/Rose<br /><b>Genre</b>: Angst, drama<br /><b>Summary</b>: Six years after Bad Wolf Bay, Rose gets a message from another universe.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>Whatever reaction she’d expected from telling her boyfriend that his alien duplicate from another universe was contacting her telepathically, this wasn’t it.</i><br /><br /><b><a href="http://teawiles.livejournal.com/42289.html" rel="nofollow">A voice was calling Rose Tyler’s name.</a></b>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:281053false i do not miss him2013-12-26T15:23:58Z2013-12-26T15:23:58ZI&#39;m busy with family still but here&#39;s my drive-by reaction post to &quot;Time of the Doctor&quot;.<br /><br /><ul><br /><li>lmfao I hated 99% of this</li><br /><li>like this must be how people who hated RTD and Ten felt when they watched End of Time</li><br /><li>i&rsquo;m so beyond investment though that i wasn&rsquo;t even mad I was just like, sorry for matt smith &amp; everyone else</li><br /><li>let&rsquo;s start with how moffat&rsquo;s idea of humour in a regeneration episode is LMAO PEOPLE ARE NAKED!!!! CLARA IS NAKED IN FRONT OF STRANGERS AND SHE&rsquo;S UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT AND THEY CAN SEE HER NAKED!!!!!! LOL! NAKED!!!</li><br /><li>let&rsquo;s continue with the heartfelt heartstring tugging when OH NO THE DOCTOR&rsquo;S PET CYBERMAN HEAD HE HAD FOR ONE EPISODE DIED! the humanity</li><br /><li>and his good friend/lover??? tasha lem is a dalek! oh no!!!!!!!!! truly this is a cruel world</li><br /><li>but it&rsquo;s ok because he insulted her and that snapped her back into being human or whatever</li><br /><li>eleven spent 200 years off screen and another hundred or so in s7a and barely changed but his 300 year battle turns him into a wizened old man? ok</li><br /><li>matt smith spent most of his last episode buried under prosthetics and wigs lmfao</li><br /><li>clara saved the day by crying again!!!!!! god bless clara&rsquo;s magical tears and the time lords who heed them</li><br /><li>the entire universe wants the time lords dead except their BFF the doctor l o l</li><br /><li>eleven&rsquo;s entire story is one big time loop WOWWOWOWOW WHO COULD EVER HAVE PREDICTED THIS WOW STEVEN MOFFAT TRULY AN INNOVATOR</li><br /><li>any emotion i might&rsquo;ve felt over eleven and clara was so thoroughly zapped out of this ep by him sending her away twice</li><br /><li>once again this entire episode was about the blessed doctor and how gr8 he is lmfao WHAT ABOUT HIM!!! WHAT ABOUT HIS LIFE! seriously we&rsquo;ve done this every single moffat finale ok we get it</li><br /><li>things i successfully called and must now gloat over: &lsquo;the long song&rsquo; appearing as an instrumental while eleven&rsquo;s dying. I KNEW IT.</li><br /><li>the &lsquo;legendary&rsquo; character being amy pond</li><br /><li>actually, amy&rsquo;s cameo was about the only bit i liked. even if that was blatantly not caitlin blackwood and karen was obviously in a wig. i wanted amy to get a cameo and was glad she got more than stupid barnaby waiting</li><br /><li>bring on peter capaldi but give me 8 months to drink to forget this is the calibre of writing he&rsquo;ll be dealing with</li><br /></ul><a name='cutid1-end'></a>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:280343Merry Christmas (eve) and regeneration day!2013-12-25T04:56:02Z2013-12-25T04:56:02ZSo I'm pretty quiet here on LJ and we have family visiting so I'm not around much buuuuut I felt amiss without making a post, so:<br /><br /><center><font size="7"><b>MERRY CHRISTMAS!</center></font></b><br /><br />I hope everyone's having a good late December, whether or not you're celebrating Christmas. And if you are still a Doctor Who fan, er, I hope Matt's last ep is... whatever you're hoping it will be. <br /><br />I'll leave you with this cute video:<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="282" /></center>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:280236so about that 50th...2013-11-25T03:59:58Z2013-11-25T03:59:58ZShort version:<br /><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m26nvnNG5o1qkk10ro1_500.jpg"><br /><br />Longer version:<br /><br />There was a lot of things I enjoyed in this episode. Ten was written better than I thought he'd be -- he felt, in most moments, Ten-y enough that I was delighted to watch him most of the time instead of peeking through my fingers like I thought I'd be. I didn't anticipate caring much about the Doctor banter because I don't care for Eleven and I don't care about John Hurt, but it was fun and funny. Seeing Peter Capaldi even for a moment was exciting. The 3D paintings idea was neat. Although I was disappointed Billie Piper never even interacted with David Tennant for even a split second, I was okay with her not being Rose, because I like Rose's story being untouched. <br /><br />But I absolutely fucking hate the resolution to the Time War, aka the "everything you've cared about in New Who was a lie" retcon. With about fifteen minutes left of the 75, the episode takes a turn for the worst possible thing it could have done. <br /><br />What an absolutely horrible disrespect to your audience, to the cast and crew and writers who made the show what it was for seven years, to undermine all of that writing, that character development, that moral complexity, that world-building, for the sake of "everybody lives". Steven Moffat is a writer with no concept of how to write with consequences, no concept of how to write a character who is both morally complex and sympathetic, no concept of how to create a story that contains moral ambiguity and has no quick or easy fix. To write a 50 year anniversary episode and focus it on a plotline that ignores the first 42 years, and then to undermine the past 8 years, is so shockingly insulting. If Steven Moffat wants to drive the show into the ground in the present day, that's his choice, but to turn around and also irreparably tarnish the work of those before him, the parts of the show I <i>do</i> love, by adding a "just kidding" post-script to the <i>emotional foundation</i> of RTD's work, is just -- beyond. Fuck Steven Moffat and his myopic concept of storytelling.urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:279973so this is what it feels like when doves cry2013-10-28T04:15:14Z2013-10-28T04:15:14Z<ul><li>My paid account expires soon, which is super weird? I've had a paid account for so long, it feels almost traitorous to not have one. AND MY BLESSED ICONS. On the other hand, I'm not really making enough right now to justify the expense, especially with LJ so quiet. Oh LJ. I miss your heyday. So naturally this made me want to update lj!<br /><li>Life is pretty okay. I like work, mostly, although I need more hours, but at least I have some kind of purpose and the company is really cool. It's interesting working for such a small company because all my previous jobs were with quite big organizations. We went go-karting a couple weeks ago! The CEO drove me home! <br /><li>I've also been driving more and have become much more comfortable with the highway et al. Of course, this is just in time for it to start snowing and totally fuck with my life anyway. <br /><li>On the 13th I'm going to one of those "live" (except, uh, not) screenings of Richard II, with <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> and a couple other assorted people. I've never gone to see one of these play/theatre broadcasts so that should be interesting. I also need to brush up on my Richard II because at present I have basically no recollection of the play at all, despite studying it. Woops. <br /><li>The 16th is my friend's birthday and I think we're going to a spa? Which... I'm actually not super thrilled about because I'm not a spa person, but it should still be pretty fun. I am more looking forward to the "hang out afterwards with food and wine" part. <br /><li>On the 18th I'm seeing Eddie Izzard with a friend. He's been in town before and I missed him so I'm glad we were on top of things this time. Live comedy is so great and Eddie Izzard is so great, I'm pretty pumped.<br /><li>And then the 23rd is of course the infamous 50th anniversary. Since <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> has RUTHLESSLY ABANDONED ME in favour of being a lawyer, I'm going with two university friends to the 3D screening here on the Saturday. I was a bit skeptical about spending money on something that is available for free and will likely not be great, but on the other hand I really like seeing things in big busy theatres, so I'm hoping the general air of excitement and fun will help make the whole thing a better experience for me. So I'm excited, more for the experience of seeing two people I haven't seen in ages and being in a big chattering crowd than anything else. Prayer circle the ep doesn't suck as hard as it could.<br /><li>And at some as-yet-undisclosed date... S2 OF THE WALKING DEAD GAME. <br /><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/4e4b6889b518e972a46c853843d7b24b/tumblr_inline_mvd0l0ZBQY1qh4o96.gif"><br />THE MOST ANTICIPATED MEDIA-RELATED EVENT IN MY 2013 LIFE. WHAT DO I NORMALLY DO WITH MY HANDS, SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY, OH MY DARLING CLEMENTINE <br /><br />If you haven't played The Walking Dead Game I 100% recommend it and it is far more of a storytelling experience than a... zombie action game experience. AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR S2, COME TO MEEEEEE</ul>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:279620fic: The Crafting Room2013-10-22T21:27:12Z2013-10-23T04:47:30Z<b>Title</b>: The Crafting Room<br /><b>Pairing</b>: Ten/Rose<br /><b>Length</b>: ~6k<br /><b>Genre</b>: Uhhh... two parts fluff, one part angst. (Surprise!)<br /><b>Summary</b>: Rose gets a glimpse of what the Doctor does while she's asleep. <br /><b>Author's note</b>: Written for <a href="http://stoprobbers.tumblr.com/" rel="nofollow">stoprobbers</a> for the <a href="http://tardisficathon.tumblr.com/" rel="nofollow">TARDIS ficathon</a> approximately nine billion years late. Kudos to <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " lj:user="goldy_dollar" ><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=129.2" /></a><a href="http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>goldy_dollar</b></a></span> for looking it over despite the shocking lack of vampires, socialites or tennis players in it.<br /><b>Excerpt</b>: <i>Her lips twisted in amusement; whatever she’d imagined the Doctor did while she slept, that wasn’t quite it. “That’s what you’re doing while I’m asleep? Crafting?”</i><br /><br />In the time she’d been on board, Rose had grown used to the complexities of the TARDIS. She knew the rooms didn’t always stay where you’d left them -- that the hallways seemed to shift and change, and that sometimes whole rooms seemed to appear or disappear or remodel themselves entirely. It was part and parcel of having a living spaceship, the Doctor had said, and Rose had got the impression he wouldn’t want it any other way.<br /><br /><i>Easy enough for you to say</i>, she’d thought grumpily after misplacing her bedroom for the second time. The Doctor always found the room he was looking for on the TARDIS; Rose suspected it had less to do with his sense of direction and more to do with the deep bond he shared with his ship. Frankly, she thought the TARDIS played favourites.<br /><br />But the longer she spent on the ship, the easier navigating it became. The rooms she was looking for seemed to appear when she wanted them. Sometimes she thought the TARDIS was starting to like her.<br /><br />“Or she’s decided to take pity on you,” the Doctor had suggested, punctuated by precisely the sort of cheeky grin that made Rose unable to shove him with as much force as he deserved.<br /><br />Whether it was affection or pity, Rose had grown accustomed to the benefits of a helpful TARDIS, and so when she left her room in the middle of the night to fetch a drink she trusted the door across the hall to lead her to the kitchen. <br /><br />It didn’t. <br /><br />Instead the room she entered was one she’d never seen before. High-ceilinged and well lit, it was lined with shelves and desks covered in various bits of metal and wires and bolts. Plenty of tools she could name and several more she couldn’t hung on the walls. At the centre of it all, surrounded by bits and bobs, the Doctor was perched on a stool like an oversized cockatoo. He looked up as she walked in, his glasses sliding to the end of his nose, and Rose froze where she was, one hand still on the doorknob.<br /><br />“So,” she said, “not the kitchen, then.”<br /><br />“Nope.” He tilted his head back, the smallest crinkle of concern on his forehead. “Everything alright? Thought you were sleeping.”<br /><br />“‘M fine, just wanted a drink.” She stepped further into the room and folded her arms across her chest. “Why’s it so cold in here?”<br /><br />The Doctor set down the bits of wire he was holding and straightened up in his seat. “Yeah, sorry about that. The TARDIS doesn’t keep rooms very warm if I’m the only one who uses them. Saves energy.”<br /><br />Rose grinned. “You worried about the gas bill?” <br /><br />“Maybe. You watch out, I’ll start charging for utilities.” He pointed at her in mock reprimand. “I know how long your showers are.”<br /><br />“You time my showers?”<br /><br />“I’m a Time Lord, I time everything,” he said matter-of-factly, but Rose thought she saw some additional colour appear in his cheeks. <br /><br />She walked towards the desk he was sitting at, trailing one hand to run her fingers over the wood of the desk. “So what’s this place, then? Some sort of mad scientist workshop?” <br /><br />“‘Course not, my evil laboratory’s down the hall.” The Doctor folded his arms and spun on his stool, leaning back against the desk. “No, see, humans, you lot waste an enormous amount of your day sleeping. Those of us with superior biology--” Rose smirked “--have to keep ourselves busy for nine hours. So sometimes I come here and... make things.” He nodded his head to the table behind him. <br /><br />Her lips twisted in amusement; whatever she’d imagined the Doctor did while she slept, that wasn’t quite it. “<i>That’s</i> what you’re doing while I’m asleep? Crafting?”<br /><br />“It’s not <i>crafting</i>, it’s just... making things.”<br /><br />“For fun?”<br /><br />“Well... yes.” <br /><br />“Like a hobby?”<br /><br />“Exactly!”<br /><br />“Mmmm.” Rose bit her lip in mock concentration. “Sounds a lot like crafting.” He sighed in resignation and she snickered. “You could make me a macaroni collage. Or a paper chain. Or...” She leaned across the desk to get a closer look at the machine closest to him. “What’s this?”<br /><br />It looked a little like a small toaster, though there was only one slot at the top. Instinct and curiosity taking over, she reached out and brushed the side of it with the tips of her fingers. At her touch it sprang to life; bright light shone out the top, projecting a huge image in the air in front of them. It looked like a mountain range, but the colours were wrong -- bright reds and oranges, like an inverted photo. The picture hung in the air for a split second, then flickered and disappeared. <br /><br />“Whoa,” she said softly, the last traces of teasing melting away. “What happened?”<br /><br />“That was a... glitch,” he answered. There was something in his voice she couldn’t place, and he reached out to take her hand and pull it back from the machine.<br /><br />Her fingers threaded through his like muscle memory. “What is it?” she asked, gesturing towards the box.<br /><br />“It’s a... work in progress. Found it in one of the storerooms, been fixing it up, tweaking it a bit.” He frowned. “Still needs some work.” <br /><br />“Oh.” She tugged his arm. “Show me tomorrow?”<br /><br />“You shouldn’t rush a craftsman, Rose.”<br /><br />Though she rolled her eyes, she couldn’t help smiling back. “Oh, come on, we both know you love showing off. Besides, you’ve still got a good five hours to kill, Mr Superior Biology.”<br /><br />“<i>Well...</i>” The Doctor hesitated, wavering on the spot, so Rose raised her eyebrows and smiled innocently. With a belaboured sigh, he nodded. “All right.” <br /><br />Her smile widened. “Can’t wait. See you in the morning.” She slipped her hand out of his and walked back towards the door, but paused in the doorway to look back. “Doctor?”<br /><br />“Mmm?”<br /><br />“Impress me.”<br /><br />The Doctor stood a little straighter, and a familiarly smug expression washed over his features. “Oh, Rose Tyler, just you wait.”<br /><br />---<br /><br />Rose woke up most mornings on the TARDIS excited to start the day. The one guarantee in the ever-changing life she and the Doctor lead was that each day was bound to be interesting. Travelling with the Doctor meant even ordinary outings weren’t so simple; ice cream wasn’t just ice cream, it was a flavour-changing sundae from Europa in 4350. There was no better alarm clock than not knowing what part of the universe you’d be seeing that day.<br /> <br />Still, it surprised even Rose that when she woke the next morning, the thing she was most eager to see was what the Doctor had built.<br /> <br />She knew, rationally, that whatever it was, it’d been something he worked on to pass the time and probably little more than that. It certainly wasn’t anything he’d set out to make for her, specifically. There wasn’t even any novelty to the Doctor building something; she’d seen him cobble together countless gadgets, ranging in sophistication from truly complex to something worthy of Macguyver. <br /> <br />But something about getting to see what he did when she wasn’t around roused the butterflies in her stomach. They were good mates, her and the Doctor. Best mates, even. Ever since Christmas, the Doctor had been even more familiar with her, more relaxed, more chatty -- and far more handsy, too, though truthfully she didn’t mind. But he was still a man shrouded in layers, and she felt a thrill every time she managed to get a peek underneath.<br /><br />(Metaphorically speaking, of course. Not literal layers, though actually he wore a lot of those too, and if she was being perfectly honest she supposed she wouldn’t mind--)<br /><br />“Rose?”<br /> <br />The Doctor sprung up behind her just as she was shutting the door to her room, yanking her away from her half-formed thoughts. He’d changed his tie, his glasses were gone, and he was watching her with a rare expression: the usual eagerness to showboat and impress was tempered with uncertainty.<br /> <br />Rose bit back a smile. Was he <i>nervous</i>?<br /> <br />“You ready?” he asked.<br /> <br />“Yeah.” She paused. “Are you?”<br /> <br />He puffed up the way he always did when she insulted his pride. “Of course.” Then he reached down and -- on instinct, Rose supposed -- took her hand to lead her across the hall.<br /> <br />The door he opened didn’t lead to the same room she’d seen last night.<br /> <br />Well, it <i>did</i>, technically -- she could see the benches and shelves and tools were all the same. The look of the room, though, had completely changed. The bright overhead lighting was off, and instead the room was dimly lit, like a movie theatre. The air had warmed to the comfortable temperature she was used to, and the clutter from the desks had been cleared away, leaving only the toaster-like object from last night sitting at the centre of the table. Even the simple wooden stool had been replaced with a high-backed cushioned chair.<br /> <br />Rose gaped as she followed him towards the chair, her mouth open half in awe and half in suspicion. “Did the TARDIS do this, or did you?”<br /> <br />The Doctor didn’t answer, and whether that was a confession or not, Rose wasn’t sure. Instead he led her by the hand to the chair and motioned for her to sit. When she did, he swooped to one side, looming over her with one arm on the back of her chair. “Rose Tyler, are you ready to be impressed?”<br /> <br />Rose lifted her chin and raised her eyebrows defiantly. “Bring it on.”<br /> <br />The Doctor’s face broke out in a smile. “Brilliant,” he said. “Now close your eyes.”<br /> <br />Rose obeyed immediately, then wondered with a rush of embarrassment what that said about her; if Mickey or Shareen had done the same, she’d at least have asked why. Her trust in the Doctor was on another level.<br /> <br />Maybe that just came with the territory when you spent most days saving each other’s lives.<br /> <br />“Right,” said the Doctor. She could hear him move away from her and start to fiddle with the machine. “Do you remember when we went to Woman Wept? The flash-frozen sea, with those big tall waves of ice?”<br /> <br />“Yeah.” Of course, she wanted to add but didn’t. Maybe flash-frozen seas weren’t as memorable to Time Lords.<br /> <br />“Good,” he said, and she thought she could hear a smile. “Can you picture it, in your mind?”<br /> <br />She could. At the time she’d thought Woman Wept might be the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. By midnight, the light from its two moons had the blue ice glowing under the hundreds of alien constellations sparkling overhead. Now that she’d been travelling for so long, she knew she’d never be able to pick a single most beautiful sight... but she imagined Woman Wept would always be near the top.<br /> <br />“Got it?” he asked.<br /> <br />She nodded.<br /> <br />“Good,” he said again. “Here.”<br /> <br />He took one of her hands in both of his, gently unfolding her fingers and holding up her palm. It was strange, she thought, how intimate that felt; they held hands every day, but with her eyes closed she suddenly felt hyper-aware of his long, cool fingers against her skin. Something cold was placed in her hand, and he wrapped her fingers around what felt like a metal tube.<br /> <br />“Hold that,” he said, taking his hands off hers. “Keep picturing it.”<br /><br />Suddenly she could see a bright light against the back of her eyelids, and she scrunched up her forehead in confusion.<br /> <br />“All right,” he said, his voice suddenly back at her ear, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. “Open your eyes.”<br /> <br />When she did, her mouth fell open, too.<br /> <br />Projected in the air in front of them, just like the mountain range the night before, was the image of a vast stretch of frozen ocean. It was remarkably detailed -- it had the reflection of the moonlight off the ice, the dark shadows underneath the crests of the frozen waves, the vast number of stars dotting the sky. It was Woman Wept, as she remembered it.<br /> <br />Exactly as she remembered it, in fact.<br /> <br />“But that was in my head,” she said, pointing at it with her free hand. “How’s it doing that?”<br /> <br />“Slight telepathic field, conducted through the sensor in your hand, projecting your memory in front of you.” He said it all with the smug voice he always used when he knew he’d impressed her, and she could feel him watching her reaction closely. “Pretty good, isn’t it?”<br /> <br />“Not bad,” was all she said, but she couldn’t keep the tone of wonder out of her voice. “You made this?”<br /> <br />“Not exactly.” He half-sat on the arm of her chair, draping one arm around the back of it. Rose found herself simultaneously wondering why he didn’t grab a chair of his own and glad that he hadn’t. “It’s old technology -- well, new for you, I suppose, but old in the grand scheme of the universe. Developed in 2346, it was designed for use in court trials. They’d call eyewitnesses to the stand and rather than have them describe what they’d seen, they’d project those memories as images for the judge and jury.<br /> <br />“Trouble is, of course, eyewitness testimony isn’t particularly accurate, and these pictures are taken from memories, not facts. Throwing it up in front of the jury like that made it seem more convincing than it should be. Like a polygraph test, it could be manipulated, distorted, misleading, create a false sense of confidence in a witness’ testimony. By 2400 it was banned in legal systems around the globe.”<br /> <br />“Wow,” was all Rose managed. She was still transfixed by the shot of Woman Wept, her own mental image being broadcast to the public. “So what happened?”<br /> <br />“Oh, the technology floated around for some time after that, privatized and modified and repurposed, but never quite the same. It’s interesting technology for a race without telepathy, even if it is rubbish as evidence, and it was popular for weddings, funerals... there was even a misguided decision to install one at a memorial statue in Madrid. This one here--” he pointed to the desk “--is one of the earlier models from the 2360s. Picked it up, ooh, a few hundred years ago in a junkyard. Forgot I had it until I found it again the other night. I thought it...” He tugged at his ear and shrugged. “Well, I just thought it might be interesting.”<br /> <br />“It is,” she said earnestly, finally tearing her gaze away from the image to look at him. “Doctor, it’s amazing.”<br /> <br />The smile he gave her was simple and soft, nowhere near the wide Cheshire grin he was capable of, but it was warm and genuine and somehow more valuable.<br /> <br />With considerable effort she looked away from him and turned her attention back to the image of Woman Wept, which had lost some of its clarity and now resembled a snowy television screen. She wondered if it was because she’d become distracted, and loosened her grip on the sensor.<br /> <br />“So how does it work, anyway? If people’s memories aren’t perfect, how comes the picture’s so clear?”<br /> <br />“Stronger memories make clearer pictures,” he explained. “Important ones, usually -- the ones with sentimental value or emotional significance. Sometimes one part of the image is clearer than the rest -- a particular item or building or person you remember vividly against an indistinct background.” He nodded towards her image of Woman Wept, now fading. “Try something else.”<br /> <br />Rose bit her lip in thought and closed her eyes, rummaging through her recollections for something that would be clear without being revealing; the last thing she wanted displayed for the Doctor was her awkward first kiss on Shareen’s sofa, or that time in year 8 when she got her period a week early in the middle of Miss Cole’s maths class. Broadcasting your thoughts, she realized, could be hazardous.<br /> <br />Finally she settled on the view of Earth from the observation deck on Platform One. It seemed so long ago; she’d been a bundle of excitement and uncertainty and nerves, utterly unprepared for what she’d embarked on. Aliens, time travel, narrowly avoiding death -- it was all second nature to her, now, but she could still remember how she’d felt looking down at Earth from its orbit for the first time.<br /> <br />When she opened her eyes again, the view of a “classic” Earth illuminated by a dying sun hung in the air in front of her.<br /> <br />“Ah, Platform One,” the Doctor said, nodding in approval. “Good choice.”<br /> <br />Just as she was about to thank him, the image of Earth started to flicker. A different picture was blinking in, too fast at first for Rose to decipher. It was difficult to look at, and she squinted as the picture jumped around.<br /> <br />“Sorry,” said the Doctor, “that’s not--”<br /><br />He leaned forward to reach for the machine, but the image stabilized before he could touch it, and he froze. Platform One was gone; she was now looking at herself, smiling, hair blowing in her face.<br /> <br />On reflex she said, “That’s not mine.”<br /> <br />“No, it’s mine.” Once again he sounded unusually shy. “I was testing it last night. Sometimes it cycles through previous images, I’m not sure why.” He hopped to his feet and walked to the table, peering closely at the machine and reaching for his sonic screwdriver while he muttered about cache troubles. “Hang on a minute.”<br /> <br />Rose was still staring at the image of herself. In it she was smiling from ear to ear, even as her hair was suspended in a windswept mess around her face. The picture was so clear and so accurate it might as well have been a mirror, were it not for the difference in pose and scale. It was a little uncomfortable, really, seeing her own likeness projected so large and so close.<br /> <br />Strangest of all, though, was that she couldn’t figure out where this memory was from. She could tell from her own hairstyle it was within the last year or so -- since Christmas, at least -- and she knew from the wind she must have been outside. But it was as if the rest of the scene had been stripped away; there was no background to the photo, no landscape or skyline she could see to help her place it. Whatever else might belong in the memory was a nondescript blur.<br /> <br />She frowned. Where had they been that the only clear part of his memory was her?<br /> <br />“When was that?” she asked.<br /> <br />But the Doctor was bent over the machine, lost in thought. “Aha!” He pointed the screwdriver at the back and it whirred on. “This should do it.”<br /> <br />The picture changed again, but not to Platform One; instead a dozen other images were fighting to push through all at once, flickering between each other rapidly. Instinctively Rose leaned forward, squinting, trying to decipher the pictures. They changed too fast for her to get a clear glimpse of any, but she thought she saw herself several times in the mix. In some she wasn’t even facing the imaginary camera.<br /> <br />“…Or not,” said the Doctor bluntly, standing up and scratching the back of his neck in perplexity.<br /> <br />Mixed into the melee were other places and faces she didn’t know. The mountain range from earlier was back, too, easily recognizable by the shock of orange and red. The flash of images was almost dizzying.<br /> <br />Rose realized her mouth had fallen open and snapped it shut. She felt as though she’d stumbled across a photo album she wasn’t meant to see. “Are these all yours?” she asked quietly.<br /> <br />The Doctor didn’t hear her – or at least he pretended not to. But his posture was stiff, his right arm holding the screwdriver like a sword ready to be drawn, and Rose supposed that was answer enough. He turned his head towards her and frowned, staring at the sensor she still gripped in her hand.<br /> <br />“Maybe you should let that go,” he said.<br /> <br />She set the sensor down on the arm of her chair, and soon enough the blitz of images slowed to a stop, landing on the mountain range again. The whole room glowed with red-orange light.<br /> <br />Now that the rush of images had stopped, Rose could see the details. There were two suns lighting up the orange sky, one already hanging high while the second had just begun to creep into view. The mountainsides were so red she thought for a moment they were on fire, but there was no smoke in the air. Clusters of glistening silver dotted the base of the mountains and the valley below.<br /> <br />“That’s a planet, yeah?” she asked without needing confirmation. “It’s beautiful.”<br /> <br />“Yeah.” The usual bounce in his voice had been replaced by a quiet reverence.<br /> <br />“Can we go?” She wanted to see it up close, wanted to know whether the red of the mountains came from rocks or foliage, wanted to see what the clumps of silver were—<br /> <br />“No.”<br /> <br />It wasn’t a harsh refusal; in fact he sounded regretful. Still, it startled Rose. There were very few things he denied her, and she couldn’t remember him ever refusing to take her somewhere – even when perhaps he should have.<br /> <br />Then realization slammed into her.<br /> <br />Not a planet. <i>His</i> planet.<br /> <br />With a sickly sensation in her stomach, Rose turned her attention to the Doctor. He was standing fixed where he had been, staring at the image in the air. The tension in his shoulders was gone, replaced with a slump that gave him an uncharacteristic look of defeat. This new face of his, usually so animated and so youthful, suddenly looked very old.<br /> <br />“I’m sorry,” she said softly.<br /> <br />This time he might really not have heard her. Fixed in place with a thousand-yard stare, he looked light-years away, and it was a long moment before he spoke.<br /> <br />“These machines are made for humans,” he began, in the low voice he used to explain unfortunate realities of the universe. “Time Lords are different: better memories, stronger telepathy. The machine gets overwhelmed, starts picking out memories on its own.” He spoke to her without looking at her, his eyes still fixed on the projection in the air. “I thought it’d be fine if you were the one using it.” He lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “Guess not.”<br /> <br />Rose nibbled the inside of her lip, unsure what to do. She wanted to say something, to express solidarity somehow, but all the platitudes that came to mind felt inadequate on her tongue. Anyone would find it difficult to be blindsided by their own memories; for someone like the Doctor, who kept so many things under lock and key, the shock must be even worse. Earlier the chance to get a glimpse at the things he kept hidden had seemed exhilarating -- now she felt sorry for ever thinking it. She wanted to be told and shown these things because he trusted her, not because they’d been plundered from his subconscious by a faulty machine. <br /> <br />As the Doctor closed his eyes and took a deep breath, Rose slid to the edge of her chair and reached out, wrapping her hand around his. He exhaled and the projection vanished, plunging the room into near-darkness. He opened his eyes to stare at the empty air, and his fingers tightened around hers.<br /> <br />With a gentle tug, Rose guided him away from the table and back towards her chair. He perched himself on the arm of her chair without a word, and Rose let go of his hand to slide her arm around his waist. She leaned into him, her fingers curling around the thin material of his suit jacket, hoping the solid reality of her presence would offer him comfort that words couldn’t. The Doctor’s hand traced up her back and around her shoulder, pulling her into a sideways embrace. They sat that way in the darkness for moment, his long fingers splayed across the top of her arm, her cheek nestled against the fabric of his suit. <br /><br />With no small amount of guilt she found herself wondering about the images she’d seen: the nameless planet he’d once called home, the faces of people who must have come and gone before her. She thought of Mickey choosing to stay behind in another world, of watching her father die on the ground by her feet. Imagining those losses magnified by nine hundred years sent a shiver down her back, and she crossed her other arm around his stomach and laced her fingers together to close the hug, willing him to understand the unspoken <i>I’m here</i> in every touch. For a moment he was still, and Rose held her breath, hoping he wasn’t about to retreat into himself as he had a tendency to do. <br /><br />Then, with a squeeze, the Doctor pulled her closer -- closer than was necessary, close enough to hear the soft samba of his hearts -- and Rose bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from smiling. It wasn’t that moments like this were rare, exactly -- in truth they were becoming more frequent. But they still felt special, somehow, and in a way she treasured them even more than memories of Platform One or Woman Wept. As much as she loved travelling and running and barrelling head first into every danger the universe had to offer, as much as she fed off the adrenaline and the energy and the ever-changing scenery, sitting there in the quiet darkness of the TARDIS with the Doctor’s arm around her, the gentle rhythm of his breathing rocking her head up and down… it was nice.<br /><br />Really, really nice. <br /><br />She twisted her neck to peer up at him, studying him as best she could in the dim lighting. It was hard to imagine that there’d ever been a time when she’d been uncertain of that face or the man wearing it. Now she thought she could recreate it from memory and get a picture even clearer than the one of Woman Wept. <br /><br />“Thank you,” she said softly. “For showing me this.”<br /><br />The Doctor looked down at her, his face breaking into a warm smile that she couldn’t help but return. “Oh, Rose Tyler.” He paused on her name, savouring every syllable. “This was nothing.”<br /><br />She just had time to notice the manic gleam in his eye before he shot to his feet and out of her grip. All frenetic energy and long limbs, he spun to the front of her chair and leaned over her again, his toothy grin beaming at her through the darkness. The melancholy of moments before and the earlier nervousness had melted off him, replaced by the pride Rose had come to associate with the most impressive of TARDIS trips. <br /><br />“I can do you much better than some old memories,” he said, waving a dismissive hand. “I can give you new ones.” He raised his eyebrows, his expression undeniably cocky now. “There’s a planet on the edge of the Mala galaxy with amazing rock formations, beautiful sunsets – and giant creatures that look rather like flying manta rays.” He moved in closer, and Rose’s breath hitched. “What do you think?”<br /><br />She swallowed and sat up straighter in her chair, adopting an expression to match his. “I think it sounds like you’re still trying to impress me.”<br /><br />“<i>Trying</i>?” yelped the Doctor incredulously. He stood up to his full height and puffed up his shoulders. “Rubbish! Do or do not, Rose Tyler.” He took both her hands in his and hoisted her out of her chair and onto her feet. “And I daresay I’ve done.” <br /><br />He let go of one hand in order to bound towards the doorway, trailing Rose along behind him and yammering away about climate and human sensitivity and that she’d probably need a coat. Rose allowed him to lead her with a smile on her face, but looked back over her shoulder as they reached the doorway. She doubted she’d be spending time in here again, and that was fine, really -- but she was glad she’d gotten to see it once.<br /><br />Maybe the TARDIS really <i>had</i> taken a shine to her.<br /><br /><br />---<br /><br /><br />---<br /><br />The Doctor leaned forward over the workbench with his tongue wedged between his teeth in concentration, the back leg of his stool lifting off the ground. It was, he thought, rather irksome that replacing a sonic screwdriver that had been tragically lost to radiation required the use of a regular screwdriver and several very small screws, though the frustration at least doubled as motivation to finish. Trying to spin the last screw into place made him grateful for sonic technology the same way travelling by car or plane made him grateful for the TARDIS, and with just a little bit more precision…<br /><br />“Aha!” he said aloud, though there was no one there to hear it, holding the new sonic aloft in triumph.<br /><br />And then the stool tipped over beneath him, sending them both clattering to the ground.<br /><br />Nursing new bruises to both his dignity and his backside, the Doctor groaned, realized that in the fall the screwdriver had slipped from his hands, and groaned again. It was nowhere near where he’d landed; it must have rolled somewhere when he fell. Looking around, he could just make out the tip of the screwdriver peeking out from beneath a shelf of old projects. He pushed himself up and strode over to it, grabbing the screwdriver from underneath with one hand and using the shelf as leverage to hoist himself back up. Straightening up, he blew the dust off the sonic and was just moving to slip it into his pocket when something on the shelf beside him caught his eye. There on the top shelf, buried under a thin layer of dust, was a faulty piece of old Earth technology. He’d forgotten it was there. He’d barely been in this room at all, really, ever since…<br /> <br />One hand reached out unconsciously, hovering centimetres above the sensor. Rationally, he knew he ought to leave it alone. Nothing good would come of it. He knew the sorts of memories the machine would choose this time, the same ones he fought every hour to keep buried because to do anything else made it hard to breathe even with a respiratory bypass, because with the whole of time and space at his disposal there was no sense focusing on the scant handful of minutes and hours and days he couldn’t reach, the small portion of past events he <i>couldn’t</i> change, and—<br /> <br />His fingers gave the sensor the gentlest of touches and the machine sprang to life, projecting into the air precisely what the Doctor had known it would. <br /><br />Rose Tyler.<br /> <br />Not a single memory – all of her, her smile, her eyes, her hair, her hands. The images were changing quickly, flickering faster than strobe light, and the Doctor caught all of them, recognized every smile and laugh and frown and tear as they were catalogued in his big Time Lord brain. It was like watching his time with her in fast-forward, a flashback clip show of a period in his life that had once seemed infinite and now seemed impossibly brief.<br /> <br />He stood transfixed, unable to look away from the onslaught and barely able to breathe. If seeing Gallifrey those months ago had torn the stitches from a fresh wound, this was open heart surgery without anesthetic. He wanted to look away and he wanted to stand there forever, drinking in the sight of her until he drowned.<br /> <br /><i>Still just an image</i>, he thought, his own words echoing back at him with painful clarity.<br /> <br />No touch.<br /> <br />He lifted his hand off the sensor and finally the barrage of images slowed, coming to rest on a single memory. It was not, as the Doctor had feared, an image from a cold beach or a windswept white room; instead, the image of Rose that hung in the air with lifelike clarity was from this very room, with her arms wrapped around his stomach and her head against his chest, smiling serenely up at him.<br /> <br />He could remember the sting of having Gallifrey thrown up unbidden before him, but more than that he remembered the balm Rose had provided. It was a gift she’d had from the day they met, a compassionate heart that illuminated everyone around her. It had been so nice to have her there at that moment, to feel her warm and real beside him, vanquishing his loneliness with a simple gesture. In the swirling vastness of a cold, chaotic universe, Rose Tyler was a beacon.<br /><br />The fingers of his empty hand flexed and clenched. The TARDIS suddenly felt very cold. <br /><br />With monumental effort, he wrenched his gaze away from the projection and focused on the machine itself. The truth was that he didn’t need it; every detail in those memories lay safeguarded in his mind, tucked away in a dusty mental box. It was imperative that they stayed there, leaving the tantalizing past out of sight where it belonged. There was nothing more dangerous to a Time Lord than nostalgia.<br /><br />Besides, he was a busy man with the entire universe at his beck and call. Innumerable planets and people and times were waiting to be experienced at the flick of a switch. There was no sense in looking back. He’d move on, in time. He always did. <br /><br />He just wished, sometimes, that the TARDIS allowed him to skip ahead in his personal timeline. <br /><br />One day, he knew, he’d be able to study the memories of Rose without the cold hand of grief choking him. Until then, he had no use for such a sentimental machine on his TARDIS. Squaring his shoulders, the Doctor lifted his brand new sonic screwdriver and sent the machine erupting in a shower of sparks. The image of Rose Tyler disappeared unceremoniously from the air. <br /><br />Tucking the screwdriver into his breast pocket, he turned to leave. Perhaps he ought to find Martha Jones. He hadn’t got the chance to thank her, earlier, for saving his life. What harm could a single trip do?<br /><br />The Doctor stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind him. <br /><br />--<br /><br /><a name='cutid1-end'></a>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:278563come the fuck in or fuck the fuck off2013-08-04T19:02:04Z2013-08-04T19:02:04Z<center><img src="http://31.media.tumblr.com/78c2e509392b5c3e7a68be07423559a9/tumblr_mr0rnfqrHd1qcgogyo1_500.png"><br /><br />I'M SO EXCITED AGHHH</center>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:278522accent a droite, bitch2013-07-20T01:34:47Z2013-07-20T01:46:16ZI know I only post these days to talk about TV but hey, nothing notable is happening in my real life so w/e. (Except maybe how two nights ago my waterbed exploded and I woke up soaking wet. That was fun.)<br /><br />Now that I'm sure you've all rushed off to watch Orphan Black on my recommendation, I have a new one for you: Orange is the New Black!<br /><br /><center><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/2b88e184cacf122772344bc989bd7190/tumblr_mq7bnuA81X1qar4y9o1_1280.jpg"></center><br /><br />Netflix's latest venture into original programming follows Piper Chapman as she's uprooted from her pleasant suburban life to begin her year-and-a-half prison sentence for drug trafficking back in her 20s with her then-girlfriend. As Piper reluctantly settles in, the show expands to feature more of her fellow inmates, their backstories and relationships. It ranges from quite funny to occasionally very sad, and I think I was hooked by the second episode. (I would recommend that, if you find yourself put off by Piper in the first episode or so, you keep going, though, because the show does get much better once it starts placing more emphasis on the other characters.)<br /><br />I am legitimately unsure if I've ever seen a show <i>so</i> dominated by female characters, and by such DIVERSE female characters. It's sad that it takes a show set in a women's prison to accomplish this, and perhaps sadder that a show about a women's prison can only get greenlit if it focuses on a "sweet" suburban white girl, but I don't think either of those things should detract from the fact that OITNB has a wide array of old women, young women, women of colour, gay women, bisexual women, poor women, trans women (well, trans woman). And obviously because the show's landscape is populated by 95% women you get all manner of relationships between them -- friends, best friends, enemies, mother/daughter, girlfriends, bitter exes.<br /><br /><br />I ENJOYED THIS SHOW SO MUCH.<br /><br />I think as lead characters go Piper is interesting because she's pretty complex and she's massively flawed, to the point of occasionally being unlikable. But the strength here is that the show is keenly aware of how flawed Piper is, and the other characters in the cast routinely call her out for it. Her self-involved nature costs her and as the show goes on she's forced to realize that she isn't the nice, innocent, sweet person she wants to believe she is. In the end I couldn't say confidently that I liked or disliked Piper as a person, but I liked her as a complex leading lady and player in a narrative.<br /><br />Her relationship with Larry I found insufferable, but again I think perhaps we're meant to? Her relationship with Alex is toxic too, but the difference I think is that Piper/Alex never pretends to be completely healthy -- they've both ruined eachother's lives in various ways and they both KNOW that and still find themselves drawn to each other, in full awareness of that. By contrast Larry and Piper are desperate to convince themselves they're a perfect match when nothing we've seen on the show suggests that they really are. Larry and Piper are both self-involved, and when they're separated by prison it becomes even more apparent. They care for each other, sure, but they also deal with the separation quite poorly and end up betraying each other. Sure, Piper having an affair is a significantly bigger betrayal than Larry watching Mad Men, but if Larry can't bring himself to skip Mad Men while his fiancee is being starved out in prison, well, I'm not sure their relationship was ever that sound.<br /> <br />I found basically all of the other inmates really great and really compelling. Taystee and Poussey are probably the funniest characters on the show, and their friendship is wonderful but heartbreaking. Tricia's book of debts destroyed me omg and so did Miss Claudette. I love Nicky and I find Alex really interesting as well -- she at least seems more self-aware than Piper. I thought Suzanne too was great -- she starts off as a bit of a stereotype and ~crazy~, but as the show goes on and you (and Piper) get to know her you realize how well-meaning she is, how smart (and educated) she is, etc; the scene with her listening to Larry's podcast thing was SO sad, but her rejecting Piper later on was so good. Pennsatucky is awful but there's enough humanity in her backstory that you feel bad about how she was treated as a child, and bad for how horrible psych ward is. Going forward I hope we get more information on more of the inmates and get to meet/learn other women's stories as well.<br /><br />In terms of greater commentary on the prison system, I think the show is quite obviously a bit cynical, and rightly so. The numerous scenes where the guards and other people in positions of power in the prison abuse that power are infuriating to watch, but they seem plausible to me. The storyline with Taystee being released and the fact that she winds up back in prison because she feels it provides her a more secure life than the outside world was so sad. I also think the show has, in its way, touched on a lot of the various socioeconomic and various other pressures that wind up with people in the prison system wrongly, or because they were essentially forced into crime for necessity, etc, although it's a topic I think they could explore more and I would like to see explored more in the upcoming season(s). One of the rude awakenings Piper had in the early part of the season was that she was "the same" as the other women -- which meant, of course, that she wasn't better than them simply for being white and educated and privileged. But likewise I think it'd be nice for her to realize that in many ways she isn't the same, because simply through luck of the draw she was afforded many more opportunities and privileges that women like Taystee, who admits she's been in institutions all her life, never had, as well as the fact that regardless of Larry, when Piper leaves prison she has friends and family waiting who are well-off and can support her as much as need be while she finds her feet. <a name='cutid1-end'></a><br /><br />I can't think of anything else specifically at the moment. But basically, great show, possibly fails at a couple things (why do they describe bisexuality in every way without ever daring USE the word?) but succeeds at many more. Would definitely recommend if you like dramedy and especially if you're interested in stories centered around women.urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:277844if i had lj icon room i'd be finding one jsyk2013-06-16T19:23:00Z2013-06-16T19:25:53ZIf you have not watched Orphan Black: why haven't you watched Orphan Black? I'm confident that like, virtually every one of you would enjoy this show. <br /><br /><center><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/777a0a7ebd346936296cb905ebd12974/tumblr_mnr44yKAWC1qzf76so1_500.png" width="400"><br />(<a href="http://gigglemonster.tumblr.com/post/51947271758/just-one-im-a-few" rel="nofollow">x</a>)</center><br /><br />The basic premise if you're unfamiliar is that down-and-out con artist Sarah Manning witnesses the suicide of a stranger who looks exactly like her. Desperate for cash to get her daughter and escape her abusive drug-dealer boyfriend, Sarah steals the woman's purse and assumes her identity in order to empty out her savings account, but of course in doing so gets entangled in the same ~*~*~*world of mystery*~*~ that drove the woman to suicide in the first place. <br /><br />That's the least spoilery description I could manage, because the show has a number of twists and (IMO) is more enjoyable the fewer twists you know. But it's well-plotted and fast paced and has lots of awesome women characters and the lead actress is gr9. Also it's set in exotic Toronto, Canada, <i>not</i> New York contrary to popular belief ahem Tumblr. <br /><br />Here, I'll even <a href="http://kswhateverspace.tumblr.com/post/50876382131/youre-not-watching-orphan-black-lets-change" rel="nofollow">point you in the right direction</a>. <br /><br />If you have seen it, COME TALK.<br /><br /><ul><br /><li>would it be accurate to say sarah is/was a con artist? they don't really make it explicit but they make odd mentions to her "running a job" or whatever which implies that she has conned people in the past. it would also i think explain why she's so good at thinking on her feet/generally "being" beth</li><br /><li>i am not british so i cannot really say with confidence how convincing tatiana's english accent is, though it sounded great to me. but it occured to me anyway that even if it does slip, sarah's been living in canada for what like 10+ at least years, so</li><br /><li>tatiana maslany is amaaaaaazing though holy crap, and the show itself splices together the clone scenes so well it's basically seamless; at least, it is on a casual watch (maybe less if you look at it cap by cap or over and over as a gif) -- at any rate i don't think i was ever thrown out of a scene by an obvious double. after a while you really do forget you're watching the same actress in every role. her body language and stance and everything for each clone is so different</li><br /><li>the plot was so fast-paced and fun, there were very very few scenes where i felt bored/restless/wanted to check tumblr</li><br /><li>all the protagonists were so likable, by which i really mean all the clones + felix;&nbsp; i was skeptical of basically everyone else but i think you're meant to be, so they did well at creating that sense of "not sure who to trust". i still don't care for paul or the idea of paul/sarah, but his unpredictability was good.</li><br /><li>sarah especially though ugh what a gr9 lead, she starts off sort of morally gray, willing to impersonate and rob a dead woman, but ends up with such a strong moral backbone and won't sell out the other clones etc etc bb angel</li><br /><li>helena was really interesting and i felt bad for the obvious terrible stuff she went through but lol @ the tag like "NO SWEET PRECIOUS BABY" ummmm nope</li><br /><li>alison oh god lol i knew ainsley wasn't her monitor noooo alison, she's gonna flip when she finds out i feel bad. letting ainsley choke was STONE COLD omg</li><br /><li>i find myself very wary of cosima/delphine but i was glad it was indeed UST i was sensing in their earlier scenes and not just a bff thing lmao i was watching like "lesbians... right? i mean, right?"</li><br /><li>which, actually, the nature/nurture concept behind the whole show is super interesting, esp considering things like sexuality. there's probably a lot of interesting meta to be written... but not by me at this point in time</li><br /><li>anyway this show is gr9 tell ur friends</li><br /></ul>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:277555oh my god it's a christmas miracle2013-06-01T21:26:25Z2013-06-01T21:26:39Z<center><b><font size="6"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/articles/Matt-Smith-to-leave-Doctor-Who" rel="nofollow">Matt Smith to leave Doctor Who at Christmas</a></b></center></font><br /><br /><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/ceaa73afb8ca22b572052c65ed300ab5/tumblr_inline_mnqguedVZ31qz4rgp.gif"><br /><br />Okay, okay, firstly: yes, I know the real problem is Moffat, not Matt, and the real change in direction I want the show to take can't happen until Moffat steps down.<br /><br />BUT... I'm tired of Eleven. Matt's a good actor, he's talented, and he gave his all to the role, but after the Pond story dragged on so long and s7 took eons, the prospect of having Eleven through s8, which will surely run into 2015, was just not something I was up for.<br /><br />So I am excited by this, and excited to see Clara with Twelve, and excited for a little bit more life to be breathed into the show. <br /><br />You may now begin the prayer circles that Moffat will step down at the end of s8.urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:277369doctor who finale2013-05-18T21:37:48Z2013-05-18T21:38:05Z<br />I... don't... really know what to say about this one.<br /><br />I'll be honest up front and say I actually liked it more than I anticipated -- I might almost say "enjoyed", but that might be too strong a word. I didn't hate it, which these days from a Moffat script feels an awful lot like loving? How the turntables, etc. My expectations were as low as they could possibly be, so I guess it's not hard to believe the show sort of... failed to be as utterly terrible as it possibly could be. <br /><br />In other words, it wasn't "The Wedding of River Song".<br /><br />There were lots of bits that made me roll my eyes, but none that struck me as outright morally heinous, so that's always nice. Clara's "impossibility" was what I'd predicted since BOSJ, so I felt validated, and even better it was something she chose to do (in as much as one can choose something they've already chosen) rather than something that happened to her by force (like River) or by coincidence (like Amy and the cracks). So... baby steps, right? And it was fun to see the TERRIBLE cgi of Clara blitzing through Classic Who.<br /><br />Like all Moffat finales though, it falls apart if I think too closely about it. If Simeon (somehow, and irrationally) made "all of the Doctor's victories a failure" and Clara fixed that, this implies that Clara did literally everything that ever happened in Doctor Who. All of it. And that's silly. And we KNOW he "never heard her" or noticed until AOTD and The Snowmen. So if I just ignore the logical implications and assume that the only Claras who ever meaningfully interacted with the Doctor were Oswin and Victorian Clara, uhhh that's fine, I guess. (Also, lots of opportunity for jokes: was the woman in the shop who gave Clara her number a Clara herself? Susan's friend and classmate from 1963, Clara Sandiego?) <br /><br />Eleven/River remains hilarious to me -- so she's been dead since TATM? What the fuck? Since when? If I shipped it or cared I'd be outraged that we never saw the Singing Towers of Whatsitcalled, and that we never had any indication until now that Eleven considered her dead and gone and mourned her. But Eleven/River shippers and I rarely agree, so I imagine they're quite happy they got a poignant goodbye and a kiss. Is this the last we see of River? Praying to the old gods and the new, personally, but I don't understand logically how we can know that, because surely he could run into another River at any time. (They're <i>not</i> running backwards, despite what Moffat wants me to believe.) <br /><br />AND of course... the "big reveal" in the end. I can think of several ways John Hurt as this lost, alternate, whatever version of the Doctor who did something terrible and secret might be very interesting. Unfortunately I can almost assuredly count on Steven Moffat to choose the worst of all possible scenarios, so stay tuned for November. <a name='cutid1-end'></a><br /><br />For those who don't frequent Tumblr and may not have seen it immortalized in gif form yet, they also released this:<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="280" /></center><br /><br />Much as I may fear what Moffat has in store, I can't say no to an interview where David Tennant talks about Doctor Who while dressed as the Tenth Doctor on a surprisingly flat hair day.urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:277113the napoleon of crime2013-05-18T03:43:06Z2013-05-18T03:43:06ZIn other TV finale news, let's talk about Elementary.<br /><br /> oh my godddddddd<br /><br />I want to talk about the finale but at the same time I can't really find words, beyond "!!!!!!!!" For the past couple weeks I've tried to avoid Elementary news because I didn't want to be spoiled for anything, and I'm glad I did, because while I remember the Irene=Moriarty theory being floated quite early in the season, I'd mostly forgotten about it and definitely hadn't given it any weight recently. <br /><br />I think what I liked most about the reveal was the way it played on my expectations as the audience, and the way they lined up their dominoes. When Sherlock told us last episode that Irene was American, I wondered why they'd cast Natalie Dormer; when we met Irene in flashbacks, I thought she was interesting but somehow not quite right, that like Dormer's American accent something felt just the slightest bit off. And of course, in retrospect, it all adds up -- Irene feels shallow because she's a fiction, and it's not (necessarily) Dormer's American accent that's off, it's Moriarty's. That the show subverted not one or two but <i>three</i> different tropes through Dormer -- first Irene in the fridge, and then Irene as the mere victim in a game between two men, and then Irene as Moriarty's pawn or minion -- just utterly delights me. I'm not sure the writers know precisely what they've done -- the way they started with a female character we assume to have no agency and gradually pulled back layers to reveal more and more and more -- or whether it's a happy coincidence. To be honest, I find it too good to be true. Either way, the result is excellent. <br /><br />The other thing I appreciated about the episode and about Dormer's character in general was that she <i>was</i> Sherlock's better. She outsmarted or outmaneuvered him every step of the way, and played him like a damn drum. He calls Irene his "blindspot" affectionately in one of the flashbacks, and it holds true -- but what makes the pair of them such a good nemesis pairing is that he's her weak spot too, perhaps not a "blindspot" as such, but her twisted fondness for him that makes her keep him alive is the reason she can't be rid of him entirely. I saw some criticism of Irene/Moriarty's downfall being her feelings, but I wouldn't say that's quite the case -- it's their (convoluted, twisted) feelings for each other that leave them at a stalemate. <br /><br />So of course it takes someone outside the situation, with that extra clarity, to come in and riddle it out. ENTER JOAN WATSON, CHAMPION OF FANDOM MARCH MADNESS, QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE, MOTHER OF BEES<br /><br />I mean, remember when Lucy Liu was cast and everyone was worried female Watson would be little more than a sidekick? And then s1 happened and the series has been arguably more about Joan's story than Sherlock's, and in the finale we have Watson solve, outsmart and take down Moriarty when Sherlock Holmes can't. How fucking baller is that, really? Joan Watson, dismissed earlier as a "mascot", cracks Moriarty. We've spent so much of this series following Joan's growth as a detective, first unofficially and then in greater measure, until it finally comes to a head as she takes down season one's franchise-iconic Big Bad. <br /><br />And then she gets a bee named after her. <br /><br />Awesome.urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:276747sometimes goodbyes are a bitch2013-05-17T02:43:59Z2013-05-17T02:47:53ZI want to go track down Elementary shortly, but first a brief note on The Office's series finale:<br /><br /><img src="http://i.imgur.com/lVeoVpl.gif"><br /><br />i started crying when Pam gave her speech about how the documentary was hard to watch and she hopes she inspires other people to go for what they want overtop footage from the Beach Games coal walk<br /><br />and then i pretty much cried all the rest of the way through<br /><br />(it's possible i'm still crying now)<br /><br />The Office might not be the show I love the most, but it is absolutely the show I've loved longest, and I am way more emotional than I anticipated about it coming to an end. The Office was the first show I started watching week by week, the first show I talked about with friends and classmates in high school, and the first show I liked enough to dig out illegal online streams of every episode I'd missed. I started watching The Office in my formative teen years, and it played a big role in shaping my expectations for comedy and television in general. It ushered in an era of television that produced almost all of my favourite shows, and while there were seasons and story arcs where the quality dipped and it was certainly time for the show to end, I'm sad to see it go. <br /><br /><br />So goodbye, The Office. You always — well, <i>usually</i> — left me satisfied and smiling.<a name='cutid1-end'></a>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:_thirty2flavors:276614nightmare in silver2013-05-12T19:53:37Z2013-05-12T19:53:37ZI tend to wind up more frustrated by stories that I think had potential and didn't capitalize on them than stories that are just through-and-through terrible. That's why "Hide" bothered me so much, and it's definitely why I'm feeling so bitter towards "Nightmare in Silver".<br /><br />The thing is that there were a lot of ideas or moments in NIS that had potential, and with the exception of the Doctor/chess game thing, none of them lived up to that potential. The theme park idea was great, so naturally all we saw was a bad castle replica -- nothing even fun about the "comical" castle, nothing comical at all, any castle set would've sufficed. The full moral and philosophical ramifications of the Cyber Wars weren't illuminated or discussed, nor was the Porridge/Doctor comparison, nor was the implications of the platoon of incompetent soldiers whose crime was not wanting to commit genocide. I mean, we don't even have the Doctor or Clara empathize with that or anything. They exist to be redshirts and comic relief. All these things that never got fully explored left the episode feeling quite empty.<br /><br />For me though by far the most annoying part was how empty Clara felt.<br /><br />I like Clara! I like Clara a lot. Clara has consistently been my favourite part of episodes. But she was by far my least favourite part of Nightmare in Silver, not so much because of anything she did as what she didn't do: have any kind of emotional response to anything. She just floats through the plot, making military decisions with inexplicable ease. (Except, of course, when she's silly enough to toss a bomb-detonator in the air, or wave it around within the Doctor's reach when she knows he's possessed.)<br /><br />I mentioned in my reaction post that I knew I'd hate the episode when she doesn't respond to Angie being kidnapped. She doesn't seem very concerned about the Doctor, she doesn't particularly connect with any of the extra characters, nor express worry when they die. (Ginger Kid tells her so-and-so on the comm saw something and went quiet, and she's like "welp that means they're here".) We have her say she's alive because "I do what the Doctor says" --- what? She doesn't worry for the children the way you'd expect, and she doesn't even seem to register the fact that these children in her care are in danger because she brought them here. Why not parallel Clara's guilt over bringing them into danger with the Doctor's guilt over what he does to companions? Would that be too interesting?<br /><br />I like Clara, but I did not care for the person we had in Nightmare in Silver. She didn't really feel like a person at all.